Bread and spectacle »

This week, within the framework of the Beat Film Festival, the premiere of the film “Grace Jones: Bread and Spectacles” will take place. In it, the legendary singer, actress and model, who recently turned 70, skates with his family in Jamaica, performs his main hits, talks about childhood, swears by phone and looks stunning.

The director of the film, Sophie Fiennes, has a great experience in documentary – she shot two “The Perverted Cynologist” about the Slovenian philosopher Slava Zizek and the film about the German contemporary artist Anselm Kiefer. The shooting of the film about Grace Jones began in 2005 and lasted for several years. During this time, the singer managed to become a grandmother, to record the album Hurricane and teach Fiennes to twist the hulaohup. First of all, this film is about family history and how it influenced the work of Grace Jones. The frames of the trip to his native Spaniš-Town in Jamaica alternate with the life of Jones in the big cities, the stories of her childhood from the lips of relatives are intertwined with their own frank monologues.

And here in front of the viewer is the most complete portrait of Grace Jones. Mas Pee – a strict, abusive grandmother’s husband, who beat up little Grace for educational purposes, turned into her stage aggressive image – sometimes even too frightening. Love for music from Jones is also partly from the family: her mother knows how to sing so soulfully His Eye Is on the Sparrow, that none of those present in the church can not hold back tears. Jones reflects on the magic of death and birth, telling how he experienced the death of his father and how he did not want to close his eyes to the last – the next frame of her newborn granddaughter, and everyone is waiting for when she finally opens them. “Usually I do not like when people see my vulnerability, it’s not the side of me that I share with the world. But when I agreed to the shooting, I felt strong enough to show the vulnerable side, “Jones said in an interview. New York Times.

But other manifestations of Jones in the film are more than enough – and in this sense the film becomes also a hymn to women’s power and independence. She may be alone, but she never feels lonely. She defends her boundaries, does not allow her to treat herself with disdain and constantly with someone arguing on the phone. She is a woman, a goddess and an icon. She is more demanding of her performances than anyone else, she is herself a manager, a defender, a girlfriend and a make-up artist.

A couple of weeks ago, Grace Jones celebrated her 70th birthday, but as one of her family members says: “All Jones are getting younger with age.” And there is no reason to doubt – the live performances of the singer are still as spectacular and provocative. In a chic Parisian hotel, wearing a fur coat on her naked body and having breakfast with champagne, Grace assures that she alone is able to make spectators stay in the room, even if the lights go out and the decorations break: “In the darkness, in the desert, in the corner – no light and only yours vote”.